


Pride and Prejudice AU: Look at that face / you look like my next mistake

by Herskirtsarentthatshort



Category: Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Drabble, F/M, One-Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-27
Updated: 2016-04-27
Packaged: 2018-06-04 19:43:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6673159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Herskirtsarentthatshort/pseuds/Herskirtsarentthatshort
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Elizabeth and Darcy are forced to talk in an awkward late night encounter in the hallway of their dorm.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pride and Prejudice AU: Look at that face / you look like my next mistake

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! I blame this little drabble on a list of random prompts I found that have absolutely nothing to do with P&P. I do have a few other drabbles that possibly exist in this ‘verse, but I’ll see how I go. Please let me know what you think :).

Elizabeth sleepily climbed the stairs up to her dorm floor, not bothering to cover her mouth as she yawned. Her shoulders ached with the weight of several textbooks in her backpack, the consequence from mid-term exams universally acknowledged as truth. As were the late nights at the library. This was Elizabeth’s fourth night in a row leaving the campus library after midnight, and as she yawned through another few steps to reach her floor, she was desperate to strip off her food-stained sweatpants and fall into bed.

Rubbing her tired, dried-out eyes, she didn’t spot him at first staring at a door across from hers. When her eyes slid over at the dark form, her steps slowed and eventually faltered to a stop. Deliberating whether or not she should turn and run or try to sneak past, he finally seemed to notice her standing there. He jumped, startled out of his stupor.

His gaze came to rest directly on her face and Elizabeth felt her heart rate rise, her pulse throbbing almost painfully in her neck. “Elizabeth…” his voice was husky with…something she couldn’t quite identify at that moment. He cleared his throat and turned to face her, taking two steps forward. The harsh lights in the hallway had not succeeded in diminishing his handsome face, something that Elizabeth quietly resented as she resisted the urge to check her own disheveled appearance.

“I was hoping to meet you sometime today, but I suspect you were well-hidden in the library,” his eyes bouncing off her backpack straps before coming back to her.

Elizabeth opened her mouth to speak but there was nothing but silence and she stood there with her mouth agape. She recovered herself and at last spoke. “What are you doing standing at your dorm room, Darcy?” she asked.

Darcy pointed at the sock on the door handle. “Looks like Bingley – “ he stopped abruptly at Elizabeth’s narrowed eyes and pursed lips. “Never mind. I actually wanted to talk to you about our…conversation earlier.”

Elizabeth scoffed and finally unglued her feet from the carpeted floor, keeping a wide birth from Darcy, and was inches from putting her key in the lock when he appeared next to her. The truth was their earlier conversation had left her so angry and so confused; he had completely blindsided her, and although Elizabeth had said all she would ever want to say to Will Darcy, she had not reacted well _at all_ to what he had said.

It had been less than twenty-four hours since Darcy had declared his love for her after returning from England a week prior. Bingley had returned with him but Elizabeth was yet to see him. Darcy had knocked on her door as she was brushing her teeth, rushing to get to an exam. She had opened the door swiftly, coming to a sudden halt when she saw him on the other side. She refused to feel embarrassed with a mouth full of toothpaste opposite Darcy’s mandatory impeccable dress.

_“I have an exam in twenty minutes,” she called from the bathroom, rinsing her mouth. “What do you want?”_

_She returned to her small room to find Darcy standing by her bookshelf, fiddling with a pair of bookends even going so far as to pick one of them up and toss it from one hand to the other. His eyes were skittish unable to focus on anything for more than a couple of seconds. He tried several times to speak but all that came out was incoherent mumbling. Elizabeth’s impatience shifted to curiosity then awkwardness as she watched Darcy grappling to find words. “Clock’s ticking, Darcy. And if nothing else, I think the owl has had quite the work out, don’t you?”_

_Darcy put the owl bookend back on the shelf and clasped his hands tightly behind his back, rising on the balls of his shoes before his feet hit the floor again. “Over the last few months…despite my own and my family’s better judgement…I’ve fallen…I’m in love with you, Elizabeth.”_

_Silence followed, hanging heavily in the air as Elizabeth stood there with her hands slack by her side and mouth wide open in astonishment._

_“You seem surprised,” Darcy noted and took a step forward, relaxing his arms. “I admit, I was surprised as well when I came to the realisation. I have tried to ignore them, talk myself out of them, convince myself why we could never be together. We run in completely different circles and my family would be horrified – “_

_“You’ve said enough, Darcy. Surprised is an understatement,” Elizabeth interrupted in a hostile tone. “You can’t even have a conversation with me, hidden feelings be damned. Instead you stare unnervingly at me from across a room. And on the rare unfortunate occasion where we happen to find ourselves in conversation, your whole attitude is full of arrogance and you look like it physically pains you to be in the same room as me and anyone else on the same social level.”_

_She stiffly walked towards him, colour rising in her cheeks. Her hands were balled into fists beside her as she continued, “I know I should feel flattered or even gratitude that Mr Will Darcy, who is never backwards in telling or showing how mightier he is than anyone around him, should love me! Me! Just a girl from a small town in Connecticut. But I do not. You told me you love me and then insulted me in the same breath. You wear your wealth and social standing like a badge of honour, but it makes you no more a gentleman than anyone else at this college.”_

_Darcy’s blind confidence of having his feelings reciprocated crumbled and he took a step closing the distance between him and Elizabeth. “And this is all the reply which I am to expect? You have just accused me of not sparing your feelings and now you’re returning the favour?”_

_“Doesn’t feel nice, does it?” Elizabeth replied. She could see she had unnerved him at the challenge of his manhood but she pushed that aside. “While we’re speaking of hurt feelings…your interference between Jane and Bingley was shameful, destroying the happiness of my best friend, as well as yours. And from the look on your face, you are not going to deny it nor do you feel guilty about it.”_

_“I have no wish to deny it. I acted in full belief in her indifference to him and I was protecting my friend. I rejoice in my success!”_

_Elizabeth slapped Darcy across the cheek and the surprise of the action stunned both of them so much for several moments there was silence as they stared at one another. Elizabeth recovered first and continued. “Your treatment of George Wickham tops it all off. In what imaginary act of friendship can you defend yourself there?”_

_Breathing heavily and rubbing his cheek, Darcy took a step back. “You are too eager when it comes to Wickham. His misfortunes have been abundant indeed, but they are troubles of his own doing. You believe I treated him poorly? That I have subjected him to his current state of insecurity and discomfort? My, Wickham has been chatty,” he spoke with condescension._

_Elizabeth’s laugh cut through the last of Darcy’s defences. “You should be ashamed of yourself, Darcy. From the very beginning of our regrettable acquaintance, your arrogance and dismissal of anyone who wasn’t a Bingley disgusted me. It took me less than a month to know that you were the last man in the world whom I could ever love. And now I am officially late for my exam,” she yanked her bag off the bed and stormed to the door, “don’t let the door hit you on the way out.”_

“There is nothing more that I wish to say to you, Darcy,” she said tersely, mentally shaking herself out of that memory.

“I am not going to repeat what I said last night, Elizabeth,” he began almost hesitantly, “but I do wish to discuss particular accusations.”

Elizabeth rolled her eyes. “For heaven’s sake, Darcy, you speak as though you’ve fallen out of a Jane Austen novel.”

Darcy was slightly disconcerted at that remark, shuffling nervously and his arms were crossed tightly across his chest. He pushed his lips out with a little _huff_ and tried again. “That aside, I want to apologise and explain some things. May we go inside?”

Elizabeth battered stray brown curls from her face with badly disguised patience. “No, we may not. But you _may_ have two minutes of my time before I close this door behind me and leave you here.”

She noticed that Darcy’s demeanour immediately change from somewhat assured to uncertain and insecure. He took several steps away from her, running a hand through his unkempt hair. As he paced in front of her, evidently gathering his thoughts, Elizabeth took in his appearance. She doubted he owned a brush, which totally went against his whole _me and my family are so much better than you, look at how well put together and rich we are_ mantra. He was wearing - what Elizabeth often mused - his favourite dark wash jeans, a white collared shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows and black Converse shoes. His famous long black leather jacket was currently being squeezed unfavourably in his hands. A smirk tickled her lips at the first memory of teasing Darcy about his ‘uniform’. After overhearing him supposing her to be _tolerable_ and not attractive enough to tempt him to dance, Elizabeth unleashed a rather articulate insult towards him and his chosen black coat. From the look on his face she believed it was the first time Will Darcy had ever been put in his place.

Every unfortunate meeting from then on Elizabeth was deliberately acrimonious towards Darcy and was hard set on avoiding him. She had been doing reasonably well – despite living across the hall from each other - until her dorm floor had had a party and she had somehow found herself alone in conversation with him after their other friends – notably Jane and Bingley – left to dance. She used the term ‘conversation’ loosely as it was supremely awkward, stilted and mostly one sided, until Elizabeth mentioned George Wickham. She admitted to herself that she delighted in Darcy’s flushed cheeks as Wickham’s name passed her lips. He became immediately agitated and closed in on Elizabeth’s personal space as he bitterly condemned the man and the newly developing relationship between Elizabeth and Wickham. Months later and Elizabeth still did not regret throwing the expensive champagne in Darcy’s face before she walked away.

Darcy’s face appeared in front of Elizabeth, jarring her out of her memory. She jumped back and felt the solid wood of the door behind her. “Sorry,” he murmured, holding out a steadying hand which Elizabeth did not accept. “I was beginning to say that my relating of my feelings as they concern the explanation of my actions and their motives may be offensive to you and for that I apologise in advance.”

“Your time is short, Darcy, so I suggest you use shorter words and sentences,” Elizabeth retorted, making a point of looking at her watch.

Darcy rebutted with a pointed look of his own, raising his eyebrows at her. He cleared his throat and began. “I hadn’t been here long before I saw that Jane had attracted Bingley’s attention, more so than any other girl we had met at the time. Many times before in England he had supposed himself in love, but it was not until the dorm floor party that I suspected he felt seriously about her. There was talk of Bingley accompanying Jane home to meet her parents for Thanksgiving and from that moment on I observed his attentions to Jane. It was then that I perceived that his…favouritism towards Jane was beyond what I had ever seen in him.

“I also watched Jane. She was open, cheerful and engaging…but not _just_ towards him, she showed no _particular_ regard towards _him_. She received Bingley’s attentions well enough, but again nothing that made me believe that her heart was likely to be easily touched –“

“I must interrupt you, Darcy,” Elizabeth said with feeling. “Jane may be a bit reserved, or some may even say shy –“

“But that is what I am trying to tell you, Elizabeth,” Darcy replied in earnest. “Even someone who observed Jane and Bingley’s interactions objectively could say that she wasn’t open with her feelings or that they were easy to read. However kind and friendly she is. When I asked Bingley himself, he wasn’t sure if she liked him as much as he did her.”

“Probably because you suggested it, Darcy,” Elizabeth trapping him in her stone cold stare. “The fact is, your pride and prejudices reared their ugly heads and you broke our friends up and dragged Bingley back to London, leaving Jane heartbroken. And now your time is up.”

Darcy took Elizabeth’s arm and turned her to face him. She shrugged him off with an incredulous look. He took a step back, holding a hand up in apology. “I need to discuss Wickham with you.”

“There is nothing you can say that can possibly exonerate you of your treatment of him,” she bit back.

Darcy began to pace again, this time in circles, running his hands through his hair and over his face. She sighed impatiently and crossed her arms. “Darcy, you had better spit it out. You’ve already had eight minutes longer of my time. You’ll also wear the carpet out and I’d prefer that not to be the case.”

Darcy stopped with his back to her, hands on his hips. When he turned and his gaze collided with Elizabeth’s, she saw acute pain in his usually warm brown eyes. He swallowed with difficulty before speaking. “I need to know if you and Wickham are dating. I’ve heard rumours…”

“Not that it’s any of your business, but we have been on a few dates. I can see you are struggling with this, Darcy. Perhaps we should save this for another time.”

“No. You need to understand why there is no friendship between Wickham and myself.”

Darcy gulped several times before asking his next question, his face twisted in anguish and distaste. “Has he…has he tried…are you sleeping with him?”

Elizabeth took three quick steps towards Darcy and she looked up at him, teeth gritted in anger. “Why would you ask me that?”

His head lowered to look at Elizabeth with a small, sad smile. “As Wickham told you himself, our families have been tied together for generations, and my father was particularly fond of him, wanting to ensure he had the best once Wickham’s own father passed. My father left him a significant sum in his will and when he died, I gave Wickham the living he was entitled to. He spent that faster than I could have ever imagined and came back to me looking for more. I entertained his requests twice more and then cut all ties.”

Doubt, confusion and surprise swirled and collided within her. Wickham’s story had been similar but he had conveniently left out the most pertinent detail of demanding more money, not once, but twice. Elizabeth’s heart thundered against her ribs as she listened and processed what Darcy was saying.

 “How he lived, I don’t know. However, it was only last summer when our paths crossed again. My sister, who is only sixteen, was home from boarding school for the holidays and when I saw her she had the brightest smile on her face. Following closely behind was Wickham with a _smug_ smile on his own face. She was excited to tell me that Wickham was taking her out for dinner. I pulled her aside to try to talk her out of that. She believed he was a very good friend to her when she was a child and that left such a lasting impression she wouldn’t be reasoned with,” Darcy’s lips thinned at the painful memory. He took a step away from Elizabeth, putting some much needed distance between them. “She came home hours later, close to midnight in tears, absolutely inconsolable. It took me quite some time to calm her down. Eventually, she told me the whole story.”

Elizabeth was frozen where she stood on wobbly legs. Her backpack felt ten times heavier than fifteen minutes ago, weighed down with the distress of Darcy’s story and her own humiliation which was hurtling towards her. Arms wrapped around herself, she almost couldn’t bear to look at Darcy’s agonised form.

 “He had made several unwelcome advances towards her, growing more serious in nature each time so much so that his roommate had to pull Wickham off Georgiana at hearing her cries. He thought that if he could convince Georgiana to have his child his connection to our family would be fixed, and so would be his access to her inheritance,” he hissed viciously into the open air between himself and Elizabeth. “His revenge towards me would also be complete. You may imagine what I felt and how I acted.”

The hallway was silent and a light flickered above them. Elizabeth was thankful that it was so late at night and there was nobody about. It would have been an incredibly awkward scene to try to explain. As it was, Elizabeth’s hand had traveled up against her chest and she had tears rolling down her face. Her emotions were in turmoil. Darcy could not look at her.

His voice was strangled as he tripped over his next words, “if you don’t believe me, then I suggest you speak to Bingley who knows everything. I’m not sure what Wickham told you but I hope you will not blame yourself for his success at fooling you.”

Elizabeth did not doubt that Darcy spoke the truth. What she did doubt were her own feelings. Overwhelming anger at what he did to Jane and Bingley coiled tightly around her distress at what happened to his sister. She was close to a dangerous, crushing precipice of unchecked emotion. She had a full-blown tension headache and each swallow was like she had a mouth full of cardboard. Pushing through it all, Elizabeth took an uncertain step towards Darcy, placing her hand on his bare arm. He flinched and the muscles in his arm tensed. “I am so sorry for everything that Wickham has done to your family, Darcy.”

Darcy looked at her keenly for several moments, his eyes tracing every feature of her face. He lowered his head, closing the already short distance between them, and just as Elizabeth put a hand on his chest to push him away, commotion behind had each of them jumping backwards. Elizabeth spun around and saw Denny Carter stumble out Darcy’s room with Elizabeth’s sister, Lydia firmly entangled around him, laughing.

XXX

It was February and Elizabeth was buried deep in her favourite arm chair at the furthest back corner of the library. A wall of books crowded the space to her left, and to her right were large windows that were white with remnants of snow earlier in the day. She took a sip of her smuggled-in hot chocolate as she read _Jane Eyre_ , one of her favourite books. She had been keeping a very low profile from everyone, in particular George Wickham. He had been texting and calling incessantly and even visited in person several times, but Elizabeth asked Jane and Lydia to run interference.

After her hallway confrontation with Darcy, it took her several days to process everything he had told her. He had moved out of his dorm immediately after his exams and she hadn’t seen him since. She wasn’t sure if she would ever see him again, and if she was to be honest with herself, she admitted that she would be far too embarrassed about her actions to _want_ to see him.

Realising how far she allowed herself to be blinded by her prejudices against Darcy to not see Wickham’s real intent had her feeling extremely foolish and Elizabeth often wished she could go back in time and see through Wickham’s lies.

Staring out the window, Elizabeth caught movement out of the corner of her eye. A slight turn to the left and she saw Darcy standing at the end of a bookshelf in the next section over. Their eyes met for a brief instant before Elizabeth’s attention was diverted to Wickham who had suddenly appeared in front of her. She jumped, losing her book and flask of hot chocolate on the floor. She ignored Wickham’s apologies as he picked up her things, instead looking to see if Darcy was still there, but he was gone. Not having yet recovered from the surprise of seeing him and Wickham in the space of seconds, she could see Wickham’s mouth moving but did not hear the words.

Frowning, she forced herself to look at him and concentrate. “Sorry, George. What did you say?”

He laughed it off and took the spare seat next to her. “I said, where have you been Lizzie? I haven’t heard from you or seen you in months!” he lent across to place a kiss on her cheek but Elizabeth eluded it with a turn of her head.

“What’s going on, Lizzie?” Wickham’s voice was loud and he was attracting attention from fellow students.

“Keep your voice down,” Elizabeth hushed him. “I have been around but I have been avoiding you. I do not wish to speak to you, George. Please go away.”

A deep V formed between Wickham’s brows as he mulled over Elizabeth’s words. “Why would you feel the need to avoid me?”

Elizabeth adjusted her position in her chair so she was directly facing Wickham, her feet still tucked under her. “I’ve heard rumours, Wickham. More than rumours, actually. Stories. Verified stories. You deceived me! And I allowed it to happen! I, who have valued myself on my abilities of discernment. Do you have _any_ idea how despicably I’ve acted?” she noticed that Wickham had stilled and fixed her with a cold, callous look, but she went on nevertheless. “No matter how justified the humiliation has been –“

“You heard what you wanted to hear, Lizzie,” Wickham replied with cold savagery.

Elizabeth found it curious that even though she was not specific, he seemed to know what and whom she was referring to. If she didn’t already whole-heartedly believe Darcy’s side of the story, his reaction would’ve confirmed it for her. She closed the gap between her and Wickham even more so they were a hair-breadth apart. “And now you hear what I’m telling you. You will not speak to me, you will not touch me, you will not be in the same room as me. If you see me walking down the hallway, you turn back the way you came. Do we have an understanding?”

Wickham snarled, baring his teeth. “Are you threatening me, Lizzie?”

“You take it however you want to, George. That snarl does not intimidate me,” Elizabeth replied, smiling scathingly. “Now, leave.”

XXX

“Lizzie, Lizzie, Lizzie!” Jane burst through the door and almost tackled Elizabeth to the bed.

“Whoa – hold it!” Elizabeth laughed, grabbing a firm hold of Jane. “What’s going on? I haven’t seen you this animated in too long a time.”

“Bingley is back!” Jane all but shouted. She took Elizabeth’s hands in her own and squeezed gleefully. “He got back just last night and he came to see me. He apologised for being an unmitigated ass and he had a bit of grovelling to do. I thought you would be happy to hear that.”

Elizabeth couldn’t help but laugh again. “I am happy to hear _all_ of it, Jane! That is wonderful news. I gather by your delight that you have taken him back?”

Jane nodded in the affirmative. “I am the happiest person in the world!”

“Tell me, how did he account for his rather unexpected departure to England?” Elizabeth asked, not wanting to dim Jane’s felicity, but very curious nonetheless.

“Do you know, Lizzie, that he really did love me. It was his thought of my indifference to _him_ that allowed him to go and not come back until now.”

Elizabeth did not ask why he chose now; she knew that Darcy must have played some interference, this time with a much happier outcome. The thought of Darcy and seeing him in the library a week earlier had her reeling, her heart stumbling over itself. Was he still here? Where was he staying? After her confrontation with Wickham she had hoped to see Darcy but it was as though he was a mirage. If Bingley was back, surely he was with him?

“I can see your mind working overtime, Lizzie,” Jane’s soft voice bringing Elizabeth back to reality. “Darcy is back in town but not staying on campus. He and Bingley have rented a house in the middle of the city. You will not have to see him much.”

Elizabeth shook her head, politely dismissing Jane’s concerns. “I am OK, my friend. Do I have regrets? Yes. Do I wish I had the chance to rectify what’s happened? Sure. But I’ve always said, think only of the past as its remembrance gives you pleasure.”

Jane pulled Elizabeth into a bone-crushing hug and released her with just as much ferocity. “I do have a favour to ask of you, Lizzie. You may not like it _or_ me very much after I ask it, but please promise you’ll consider it.” Elizabeth nodded her assent and Jane continued, “Bingley has invited me to return with him to England for the summer break and I told him I will, but only if you agree to come with us.”

Shock had Elizabeth taking several steps away from Jane and she stuttered incoherently for a few moments. “I…don’t know…that is a huge favour, Jane. I mean, I’ve always wanted to visit London…but that would mean…”

“Yes, you may run into Darcy from time to time, but nothing will be forced or arranged without you knowing. He doesn’t live with Bingley there and will be so busy with his work apparently that even Bingley won’t see much of him. Please, Lizzie?”

Elizabeth tried to ignore the knots her stomach was currently tying itself into. “Are you sure Darcy won’t be around much?”

Jane nodded emphatically in reply and Elizabeth was somewhat appeased. “OK. Well, it looks like I am coming to London with you!”

It was going to be a summer to remember. Whether those memories would include Darcy, Elizabeth wasn’t sure. The thought of it had the butterflies in her stomach returning. But if she did see Darcy while over there, she was determined that the meeting would be amiable, a welcome change from what they had been in the past.

End.


End file.
